Lot 102. An extremely rare and large cloisonné enamel 'Dragon'tianqiuping, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period (1736-1795), 57.3 cm, 22 1/2  in. Estimate 6,000,000 — 8,000,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

of impressive size, the globular body supported on a short circular foot, surmounted by a waisted cylindrical neck with rolled lip, powerfully decorated with bright enamels of various hue within strong gilt-bronze outlines, depicting a ferocious three-clawed dragon with mouth wide opened revealing sharp fangs and a curled tongue, its long curly whiskers issuing from either side of its flared snout, crowned by a pair of white horns protruding from its mane formed from a mass of radiating red fur, sweeping back to its powerful coiling body covered in pink and red scales, its forearm extended to reach for a flaming pearl, the muscular limbs aggressively striding on tumultuous waves of various shades of blue and white foams swirling into crested currents just above the base, the rim and the circular base gilt.

Provenance: Spink & Son, London.

Exhibited: Grosvenor House, London, July 1988.

Note: The Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723-1735) was one of the most innovative imperial art patrons. He encouraged the recreation of masterpieces of the past at the imperial workshops, as well as the creation of original contemporary designs, sometimes loosely based on earlier prototypes, that became equally influential in subsequent reigns. Many of these imperial products remained unmarked. The Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795), whose reign lasted for much longer, multiplied commissions from the imperial workshops and propagated his own patronage in a much more eloquent way. Most unmarked eighteenth-century pieces are automatically attributed to the Qianlong reign, although the Emperor is known to have been enamoured with reign marks, and stylistically largely followed his father’s lead.

As far as cloisonné is concerned, Yongzheng reign marks are virtually unknown, and unmarked pieces are hardly ever attributed to the Yongzheng reign. The imperial workshops that were active producing cloisonné wares during the Kangxi (1662-1722) and Qianlong periods did, however, not cease to operate in the time in-between. Orders for cloisonné wares – even if small in number – do exist among the Yongzheng records of the Zaobanchu, the workshops supervised by the Imperial Household Department.

The magnificent tianqiuping offered here is remarkable in many ways, not only in its rare colour scheme and monumental size, but most importantly in its unusual workmanship and the outstanding quality of the enamelling technique. While on cloisonné wares the applied metal wires generally form cells or enclosures (cloisons) that are then filled with differently coloured glass pastes, on the present vase they are used rather like freely distributed brush strokes sketching the design, that was then filled in with delicately graded washes of colour. That the raised metal wires are not just employed for outlines, and colour changes do not necessarily coincide with these metal separators, made possible a much more painterly approach to the subject than is customary on cloisonné wares. The lively overall composition and the admirable shading accomplished in the reds as well as the blues, were clearly inspired by a painted porcelain prototype.

This colour scheme is of course well known from underglaze copper-red and cobalt-blue decoration on Jingdezhen porcelains, but is extremely rare for a piece of cloisonné enamel. A very similar porcelain design did exist in the Yongzheng period, a tianqiuping inscribed with the imperial reign mark, painted with a copper-red three-clawed dragon emerging from among delicately shaded, fluffy blue clouds, which partly hide its body and limbs, very similar in its layout and the execution of the design. Only one example appears to be extant of this pattern, a vase illustrated in Sotheby’s: Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 283; and in Giuseppe Eskenazi in collaboration with Hajni Elias, A Dealer’s Hand. The Chinese Art World Through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012, pl. 158; and sold three times in these rooms, 2nd May 1995, lot 118; 7th May 2002, lot 580, and 31st October 2004, lot 25 (fig. 1). While its height of 51 cm already considerably exceeds the size of the usual porcelain tianqiuping, the metal body of the present piece made an even larger size possible, 57.3 cm, which is equally rare, however, in that medium.

A superb and extremely rare copper-red and underglaze-blue 'dragon'tianqiuping vase, Mark and period of Yongzheng. Sold for 15,182,400 HKD at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 31st October 2004, lot 25. Photo: Sotheby's.

This free style of painting on a work of art did not originate in the Yongzheng reign, but was developed in the Yongle period (1403-1424) of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). In the early Ming period tianqiuping with the design of a large three-clawed dragon circling around the sides were produced in several different versions, with the dragon floating among lingzhi-shaped clouds, among lotus scrolls, or reserved in white among overall waves; see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 1, pls 87 (fig. 2) and 88, and Mingdai chunian ciqi tezhan mulu/Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1982, cat. no. 5. While the Yongzheng porcelain vase was clearly inspired by a Yongle example, it does not copy any version closely.

Blue and white ‘dragon’ tianqiuping, early Ming dynasty, Qing court collection© Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing

Fairly close copies of at least two of the Ming patterns were also produced in the Yongzheng reign but, being direct imitations, they neither capture the strength of the original designs, nor are they infused with the vibrancy of a new departure; see The Complete Collection, op.cit., vol. 3, pls 81, 102 and 197.

The present cloisonné vase shows the same powerful style and undoubted originality as its Yongzheng porcelain counterpart, and equally seems to be unique. Only one other dragon-decorated tianqiuping appears to be recorded in this porcelain colour scheme, a smaller piece (41.9 cm) in the Palace Museum, Beijing, attributed to the middle Qing period; see Compendium of Collection in the Palace Museum. Enamels, vol. 3: Cloisonné in the Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, pl. 102 (fig. 3); the dragon on that vase is much less close to the Yongzheng porcelain example than the one on the present piece.

Cloisonné enamel ‘dragon’ tianqiuping, mid-Qing dynasty © Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.

A much smaller (24 cm) cloisonné tianqiuping attributed to the early eighteenth century and perhaps of similar date as the present vase, but with a red dragon and blue waves on a dark ground, was sold in these rooms, 5th October 2016, lot 9, from the collections of Kenneth Malcolm and Roger Keverne; and one cloisonné example of similar size, but with the design executed in the more customary multi-coloured palette on a turquoise ground and attributed to the Qianlong period, was sold twice in our London rooms, 12th June 1990, lot 52, and 9th November 2011, lot 401.

A rarecloisonné enamel and gilt-bronze ‘dragon’ vase tianqiuping, Qing dynasty, early 18th century, from the collections of Kenneth Malcolm and Roger Keverne; 24 cm, 9 3/4  in. Sold for 2,240,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th October 2016, lot 9. Photo: Sotheby's.

cast with a globular body resting on a gilt-bronze countersunk base and surmounted by a tall tubular neck with a gilt-bronze lipped mouthrim, the exterior decorated in vivid cloisonné enamels with a pair of two-clawed scaly red dragons writhing ferociously and sinuously amidst dense clusters of variegated blue clouds resembling flowering blooms, all above a band of crashing waves encircling the foot, the details finely accentuated with thin gilt-bronze outlines.

Provenance: Collection of Kenneth Malcolm (1908-84).
John Sparks Ltd, London.

Note: Finely enamelled in shades of blue and red to resemble underglaze-blue and red porcelains, this vase is extremely rare for its rendering of the theme inspired by the celebrated Southern Song ink handscroll painting Nine Dragons by the prominent poet, calligrapher and artist, Chen Rong (active 1235-58). The innovative spirit of the original painting has been continued on this vase, where the craftsman has attempted to recreate the atmospheric billowing clouds through petal-shaped cloisons that have been filled with graduating tones of blue. The overlapping cloud form has also cleverly been developed to resemble peony flowers, which are considered the 'king of flowers'.

An underglaze-blue vase decorated with the Nine Dragons motif reveals that the Yongzheng Emperor had access to and was an admirer of the painting. The craftsman has successfully manipulated the cobalt-blue to produce a vase that clearly points to its prototype; this Yongzheng mark and period vase was sold in these rooms, 20th May 1986, lot 40, and is published in James Spencer, Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 1990, pl. 126, and in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, col. pl. 103. Compare also a Yongzheng mark and period underglaze-red and blue tianqiuping decorated with a large red dragon striding through crashing waves, in the Qing Court collection, and still in Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (III), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 197.

Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), Leave it all to Providence (Dejalo todo a la probidencia), 1816-20, black ink and gray wash, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 1999.22. 

The Thaw Collection is considered among the foremost private collections of drawings assembled over the last half century. It was first promised to the Morgan in 1975 by Eugene V. Thaw, now a Life Trustee, and the museum received the full collection of 424 works in early 2017. In honor of this extraordinary gift—one of the most important in the history of the museum—the Morgan presents Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection.

On view from September 29 through January 7, 2018, the exhibition includes more than 150 masterworks from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. A partial list of artists represented includes Mantegna, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Watteau, Piranesi, Fragonard, Goya, Turner, Ingres, Daumier, Degas, Cézanne, Redon, Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Pollock.

“It is difficult to summarize in a few words what the acquisition of the Thaw Collection means to the Morgan but ‘transformative’ may be the best single way to describe it,” said Director Colin B. Bailey. “The great range of artists, schools, and regions represented is remarkable. Moreover, the quality of the individual drawings reflects Gene Thaw’s exceptional critical eye—and his keen intellectual curiosity. Over the years Gene’s passionate commitment to the Morgan has never wavered and we can think of no better way to honor him and his late wife, Clare, than to present this exhibition of some of the greatest works from their collection.”

The exhibition is organized in a series of sections that illustrate key moments in the history of draftsmanship while also highlighting the work of artists whom the Thaws collected in depth, among them Rembrandt, Goya, Redon, and Degas.

One of the leading art dealers of his day, Eugene Thaw, who was born in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood, initially was drawn to contemporary artists before focusing on major masters of the first decades of the twentieth century. He soon expanded his range to include earlier work, with a particular penchant for nineteenth-century French artists. Not long after his marriage to Clare Eddy in 1954, he was encouraged by his wife to keep some of the drawings for which he was particularly enthusiastic, and their private collection began to take shape.

Thaw acquired these great objects from a variety of sources: from art dealers and their galleries, through fellow collectors, at bookshops, and, perhaps most spectacularly, at auction. A major early purchase, in 1980, was the rare sheet by the Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna that set a record price for a drawing by the artist. Later, Thaw had the opportunity to acquire one of the last significant landscape drawings by Rembrandt still in private hands.

Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), Three Standing Saints, ca. 1450-1455, pen and brown ink on paper toned with red chalk, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 1985.100.

The Thaws first became involved with the Morgan in the 1960s. The relationship deepened during the tenures of Morgan directors Charles Ryskamp (1969–86) and Charles E. Pierce, Jr. (1987–2007). In 1975, on the occasion of the collection’s first exhibition at the Morgan, the Thaws announced that they were making a promised gift of their drawings. 

Over the years Thaw has contributed other important works to the Morgan including a superb group of landscape oil sketches which the museum shares with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also gave a collection of early Medieval ornamental objects currently installed in the McKim building’s North Room, and a cache of nineteen illustrated letters by Vincent van Gogh to his protégé, Émile Bernard.

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Letter to Paul Gauguin, 17 October 1888, with a sketch of Bedroom at Arles, pen and brown ink on graph paper, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, MA 6447. Given in honor of Charles E. Pierce, Jr., 2007.

In addition to his gifts of art, Eugene underwrote the museum’s state-of-the-art Thaw Conservation Center, which opened in 2002. He also endowed two galleries in his wife’s name—most recently, the Clare Eddy Thaw Gallery in 2006. His donation in 2011 helped establish the Morgan’s Drawing Institute, a center for the study of works on paper. In 2013, an additional gift endowed the position of the Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints.

In discussing his passion for collecting and his gift to the Morgan, Thaw said, “All true collectors want a group of works that reflects their own taste and judgement of what’s best. But critical to this drive or need to accumulate objects that excite the eye and mind, and to put them in order, is also the art of sharing them. I can think of no better place to do that than the Morgan Library & Museum.”

Vittore Carpaccio (1455? - 1525?), Virgin and Child with Saints in a Landscape, ca. 1500–1510, pen and brown ink and wash over red and black chalk, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2006.46.

Albrecht Altdorfer (ca. 1480–1538), Two Lovers by a Fountain in a Landscape, 1509-10, pen and black ink and white opaque watercolor, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2006.41.

Jan Bruegel (1568 - 1625), A View of the Tiber in Rome with the Ponte Sisto and Saint Peter's in the Distance, ca. 1594, pen and brown ink and wash and blue watercolor over black chalk, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2017.20.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), Four Musicians with Wind Instruments, ca. 1638, pen and brown and black ink and brown wash, and red and yellow chalk, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2004.42.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), The Bulwark De Rose and the Windmill De Smeerpot, Amsterdam, ca. 1649-52, pen and brown ink and wash, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2006.47.

Antoine Watteau (1684–1721), A Member of the Persian Embassy, 1715, red and black chalk, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2000.54.

Antoine Watteau (1684–1721), Young Woman Wearing a Chemise, ca. 1718, black, red, and white chalk, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2000.53.

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727–1804), Scene of Contemporary Life: The Picture Show, 1791, pen and brown and black ink and wash over black chalk, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2017.253.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806), The Little Park, ca. 1765, paque watercolor over graphite, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 1997.85.

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863), Moroccans Outside the Walls of Tangier, 19th century, watercolor and opaque white watercolor over graphite on wove paper, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2017.65.

J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851), The Pass of St. Gotthard, near Faido, 1843, watercolor over graphite, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2006.52.

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (1834–1917), Seated Dancer, 1871-72, oil paint over graphite on pink paper, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2017.54.

Odilon Redon (1840–1916), The Fool (or Intuition), 1877, charcoal with black chalk and fixative on light brown paper, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2010.120.

Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), The Bathers, ca. 1900, watercolor over graphite, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2017.29.

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), Crouching Tahitian Woman Seen from the Back, ca. 1902, monotype in watercolor with opaque white watercolor, Thaw Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2017.90.

Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), Untitled [Drawing for P.G.], ca. 1943, pen and black ink and wash, green ink wash, red colored pencil, and orange watercolor pencil © 2017 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Lot 87. A Yue celadon bowl with bi-shaped foot, Five Dynasties (907-960), 5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 50,000 - HKD 70,000 (USD 6,431 - USD 9,003) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

Provenance: Mayuyama, Tokyo, 1970s-1980s

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong

Lot 88. A Korean celadon moulded ‘Lotus scroll’ bowl, Goryeo dynasty, 12th century, 7 5/8 in. (19.3 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 60,000 - HKD 80,000 (USD 7,717 - USD 10,289) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

Provenance: According to an inscription dated to 1914 on the Japanese wood box accompanying this lot, this bowl was acquired in Seoul and owned by Takayanagi Kenzo (1887-1967), a professor of constitutional law at the Tokyo University
A Japanese private collection

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong 

Lot 90. A Yue celadon incised ‘Floral scroll’ box and cover, Five Dynasties-Northern Song dynasty (907-1127), 5 1/8 in. (13.1 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 120,000 (USD 10,289 - USD 15,434) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong  

Lot 91. A Yaozhou moulded 'Peony' conical bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 6 in. (15.2 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 40,000 - HKD 60,000 (USD 5,145 - USD 7,717) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

Provenance: Dexinshuwu Collection

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong  

Lot 92. A Yaozhou carved 'Floral' deep bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 120,000 (USD 10,289 - USD 15,434) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017 

Provenance: Dexinshuwu Collection

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong  

© Christie’s Images Limited 2017.

LONDON.- Christie’s and de GRISOGONO will present: The Art of de GRISOGONO, forming a partnership that will bring to auction the most exquisite diamonds ever offered to the market, with Christie’s forthcoming auction season in Geneva highlighting the very best of de GRISOGONO by presenting a unique necklace suspending a 163.41-carat, D colour, flawless, IIA type diamond. 

Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Christie’s Jewels commented: “Over our 251 year history, Christie’s has had the privilege of handling the world’s rarest and most historic diamonds. The sensational 163.41 carat perfect diamond suspended from an elegant emerald and diamond necklace propels de GRISOGONO into a class of their own.” 

Established in Geneva, Switzerland in 1993, de GRISOGONO was founded by Fawaz Gruosi on three pillars: craftsmanship, innovation and creativity. On the eve of the 25th anniversary year of de GRISOGONO, the founder’s vision is to expand his fine jewellery collection by working exclusively with a handful of the largest flawless diamonds of perfect polish and symmetry. Combining these unparalleled stones with years of craftmanship, the first exceptional jewel has been created around the largest D colour, flawless diamond ever to come to auction, a 163.41 carat stone, cut from a 404 carats-rough, which was discovered in early February 2016 in the Lulo mine, located in the Lunda Sul Province in Angola. 

The “4 de Fevereiro” rough is the 27th biggest rough white diamond ever discovered and the largest in Angola. The rough was analysed in Antwerp and cut in New York, where a team of 10 diamond-cutting specialists were involved in mapping, plotting, cleaving, laser-cutting and polishing the rough 404.20 carat into a unique 163.41 carat emerald-cut stone. The first cut was done on 29th of June 2016, when the 80 year old master diamond cleaver performed a cut along a grain line to cleave the crystal in two. After 11 months of work the polished 163.41-carat stone was ready to be send to the GIA in late December 2016. To date this is the largest D flawless diamond ever to appear for sale at auction. 

The original, 404.20 carat rough diamond that was mined in eastern Angola — the 27th largest rough white diamond ever discovered. © Christie’s Images Limited 2017.

In Geneva at de GRISOGONO, Fawaz Gruosi, together with his team created 50 different designs around the 163.41-carat stone and in early February 2017, coinciding with the first anniversary of its discovery, the final choice of the design was made: an asymmetric necklace with the 163.41-carat diamond as the centrepiece, trailing on the left side 18 emerald-cut diamonds and to the right two rows of pear-shaped emeralds, offering a fresh contrast to the cool white diamonds as well as a nod to Mr. Gruosi’s superstition - green means good luck – and hence, emeralds take a central part in his collections. No gold is visible between the emeralds as each gem is perfectly matched with its neighbour and the metal is darkened to create the chiaroscuro effect that is so characteristic of de GRISOGONO. The prongs holding in place the 163.41 carat diamond disappear under four baguette- cut diamonds creating an effect of dazzling brilliance. The reverse side of the gold basket is engraved with the diamond’s weight and set with yet more diamonds. 

It took over 1700 hours to create this unique jewel and involved a team of 14 craftsmen and their know-how as well as love for perfection for each detail in the necklace. 

Christie’s is honoured to present to the world this masterpiece of unparalleled beauty and exquisite workmanship during their preview exhibitions in Hong Kong, London, Dubai, New York and Geneva. The necklace will be offered in the Magnificent Jewels auction taking place on 14 November in Geneva at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues. © Christie’s Images Limited 2017.

De GRISOGONO’s design for the diamond — an asymmetric necklace featuring 18 emerald-cut diamonds, flanking the 163.41-carat centrepiece, which will be offered at Christie’s in Geneva on 14 November. This stunning piece will be toured to Hong Kong, London, Dubai and New York before arriving in Geneva for the Magnificent Jewels auction. © Christie’s Images Limited 2017.

MILANO - “Dentro Caravaggio” at Palazzo Reale in Milan from 29.09.2017 to 28.1.2018 presents an unexplored new perspective of the years of the artist’s extraordinary production, under the light of a some new documents and more recent researches.

Once again Milan pays homage to the genius artist showing eighteen of the master's works of art together for the first time ever.

Deemed as unique, this retrospective not only presents the public with works on loan from other major Italian museums, and from equally important foreign museums, but for the first time ever Caravaggio's canvases will be flanked by their respective radiographic imagesthanks to the innovative use of multimedia equipment, enabling the audience to follow and discover the artist's journey from his initial thoughts to the final achievement.

Through diagnostic methods such as reflectographs and x-rays, which penetrate to a different extent under the pictorial surface, it is possible to analyse Caravaggio’s creative process, his idiosyncratic painting technique, his changes of heart, modifications and adjustments in composition.

Amongst the museums and collections in Italy participating in the exhibition are: Galleria degli Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti and Fondazione Longhi, Florence; Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Musei Capitolini, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica-Palazzo Corsini, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica-Palazzo Barberini, Rome; Museo Civico, Cremona; Banca Popolare di Vicenza; Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte and Gallerie d’Italia Palazzo Zevallos, Naples.

Amongst the most prestigious loans from abroad: Sacra famiglia con San Giovannino - Sacred Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (1604-1605) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Salomé con la testa del Battista - Salomé with the head of John the Baptist (1607 or 1610) National Gallery, London; San Francesco in estasi - St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy (c.1597) Wadsworth Atheneum of Art in Hartford;  Marta and Maddalena (1598) Detroit Institute of Arts; San Giovanni Battista - St. John the Baptist (c.1603) Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City; San Girolamo - Saint Jerome in Meditation (1605-1606) Montserrat Museum, Barcelona.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Resting during Egypt's escape, 1597.Oil on canvas, 135.5 x 166.5 cm - Gallery Doria Pamphilj, Rome © 2017 Courtesy of Trust Doria Pamphilj

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, La Buona Ventura, 1597. Oil on canvas, 115 x 150 cm - Capitoline Museums - Capitoline Chapel, Rome - Rome, Provincial Capitol Building. Photo Giuseppe Schiavinotto, Rome.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, A boy bitten by a ramarro, 1597. Oil on canvas, 66,5 x 52,3 cm - Foundation of Studies of Art History Roberto Longhi of Florence - Photo Claudio Giusti, Lastra a Signa (Florence)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Saint Francis in ecstasy, 1598-99. Oil on Canvas, 92 x 128 cm - Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund - Photo by Allen PhillipsWadsworth Atheneum

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1603. Oil on Canvas, 104 x 135 - Uffizi Gallery, Florence - Photo Cabinet of Uffizi Galleries. 

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, St. John the Baptist, 1604. Oil on canvas, 172.7 x 132 cm - The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri - Photo: Jamison Miller, © The Nelson-AtkinsMuseum of Art.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, St. John the Baptist, circa 1604. Oil on Canvas, 97 x 131 cm - National Galleries of Ancient Art of Rome, Galleria Corsini, Rome - Mauro Coen's Photo

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, San Girolamo Penitent, 1605-1606. Oil on Canvas, 140.5 x 101.5 cm - Museu de Montserrat, Barcelona - Museum the Montserrat - Photo Dani Rovira

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Flagellation, 1607. Oil on canvas, 266 x 213 cm - Museum and Real Wood of Capodimonte, Naples - Archive and Laboratory Photo of the Special Superintendency for the Historical Artistic and Ethnoanthropological Heritage and for the Polo Museum of the City of Naples, FEC Properties, Ministry of the Interior

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Portrait of a Knight of Malta, 1607-1608. Oil on canvas, 118,5 x 95 cm - Palatine Gallery of Palazzo Pitti, Florence - Photographic Cabinet of the Uffizi Galleries, Florence. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco premiered Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire, the first major U.S. exhibition on Teotihuacan in over twenty years. The ancient metropolis of Teotihuacan is one of the largest and most important archaeological sites in the world, and the most-visited archaeological site in Mexico. At its peak in 400 CE, Teotihuacan was the cultural, political, economic, and religious center of Mesoamerica and inhabited by a multiethnic population of more than 100,000 people. This historic exhibition features more than 200 artifacts and artworks from the site and is a rare opportunity to view objects drawn from major collections in Mexico, some recently excavated – many on view in the U.S. for the first time – together in one spectacular exhibition. 

“We are proud to have been working in collaboration with our cultural partners in Mexico for over 30 years,” says Max Hollein, Director and CEO of FAMSF. “In this groundbreaking exhibition, an abundance of recent archaeological discoveries will offer visitors to the de Young insight into the life of the ancient city and give greater context and significance to the Teotihuacan murals in our own collection.” 

Mask, 300-600. Green serpentine, 8 1/2 × 8 1/10 × 4 1/10 in; 21.6 × 20.5 × 10.5 cm. Photo © Dumbarton Oaks, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC.

Located approximately 30 miles outside of modern-day Mexico City, Teotihuacan was founded in the first century BCE near a set of natural springs in an otherwise arid corner of the Valley of Mexico. At its height a few centuries later, the city covered nearly eight square miles and featured enormous pyramids, long avenues, and residential compounds. Highlights of the exhibition include artifacts recently excavated from the site of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, as well as objects from both recent and historic excavations of the Moon Pyramid, and the Sun Pyramid—the three largest pyramids at Teotihuacan. 

The exhibition, which will travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), also reunites exquisite mural fragments in FAMSF’s collection with others originating from the same residential compound at Teotihuacan. In 1986, FAMSF repatriated a number of murals as part of an unprecedented joint agreement with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Together they established a program of collaborative conservation and exhibition. Alongside these murals are monumental and ritual objects from the three pyramids, as well as ceramics and stone sculptures from the city’s apartment compounds, which were inhabited by diverse peoples from many parts of Mexico.  

“The past ten years have seen major revelations in Teotihuacan archaeology. With these discoveries comes a new sense of Teotihuacan that will have an impact for generations to come,” says Diego Prieto Hernández, INAH General Director. “We are grateful for the enthusiastic and abiding partnerships we have developed with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Such exchanges are crucial to create a shared understanding and vision across countries and cultures, a common basis for our human experience." 

The national and international teams working at the main pyramids have made significant discoveries since the last major Teotihuacan exhibition in 1993, when the de Young hosted Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. By bringing objects from various excavations together and encouraging visitors to understand the context of specific sites within the city, the new exhibition provides a rare opportunity for Bay Area audiences and visitors to experience a significant place in Mexico's historical and cultural landscape.  

“This exhibition gives visitors the chance to be immersed in the history of Teotihuacan and its urbanism through encounters with 200 objects,” says exhibition curator Matthew H. Robb. “It is an opportunity to anchor these objects on the map of the site to understand how art held communities together in a large, complex, cosmopolitan city— offering valuable lessons for contemporary audiences.” 

In the sixth century, a devastating fire in the city center led to Teotihuacan’s rapid decline, but the city was never completely abandoned or forgotten; the Aztecs revered the city and its monuments, giving many of them the names we still use today. Teotihuacan is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and attracts upwards of four million visitors annually. 

Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire is curated by Matthew H. Robb, chief curator of the Fowler Museum at UCLA and former curator of the arts of the Americas at FAMSF. The exhibition is on view at the de Young Museum in San Francisco from September 30, 2017, through February 11, 2018. It will travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) from March 25 through July 15, 2018.  

In Detail 
Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire brings together art and artifacts from recent excavations with objects found as long as a century ago. These finely crafted works demonstrate how the city’s dominant ideology permeated everyday spaces, united a diverse population, and provided a guide for citizens as they navigated Teotihuacan’s streets. The Aztecs revered Teotihuacan and gave the city and its major monuments their names. This exhibition is organized geographically around these places. 

The exhibition begins with recent discoveries from a tunnel found underneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid by Mexican archaeologists in 2003. Over a decade of explorations yielded an astonishing array of objects: enigmatic sculptures that may represent Teotihuacan’s founding ancestors and large quantities of vessels depicting one of Teotihuacan’s most important deities, the Storm God. Shells likely originating from the Gulf of Mexico were also found, some incised with designs from other parts of Mesoamerica, indicating that even early in its history Teotihuacan was already a major regional hub. 

Mural fragment (feathered feline), 500–550. Earthen aggregate, stucco, and mineral pigments, 26 9/16 x 40 3/16 in. (67.5 x 102 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Bequest of Harald J. Wagner, 1985.104.5. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Teotihuacan was a highly organized city, built in a grid like plan over roughly eight square miles, situated along the north-south axis formed by the Street of the Dead, and made up largely of architecturally similar single-story residential buildings varying in size and level of luxury. These apartment compounds housed many of Teotihuacan’s residents. The first gallery introduces the art forms for which Teotihuacan is best known and highlights important deities, including the Storm God, with his goggle eyes and distinctive nose plaque; the Old Fire God, an elderly figure who sits cross-legged and bears a brazier atop his head; the Water Goddess, known from large monuments; and the Maize God, who symbolized the life-sustaining power of this crop and may be the subject of Teotihuacan’s famous stone masks. 

The next gallery showcases objects from a range of residential compounds, demonstrating aspects of daily and ceremonial life for Teotihuacan’s citizens. Immigrant groups from across Mesoamerica frequently occupied distinct neighborhoods, or barrios. Here they maintained traditions from their places of origin and simultaneously integrated themselves into the fabric of the city and its dominant ideology. In a compound on the city’s western edge, for example, people from Oaxaca carried out Zapotec lifeways, including the use of Zapotec calendrical signs. An offering on the city’s eastern edge included delicately painted ceramic figurines of women and infants. And on the city’s southern periphery, the working-class residents of Tlajinga specialized in the mass production of utilitarian obsidian blades and played a crucial role in Teotihuacan’s economy.  

Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees mural (Feathered Serpent 1), 500–550. Earthen aggregate, stucco, and mineral pigments. 22 1/5 × 160 1/5 in; 56.5 × 407 cm. Image Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francicsco

La Ventilla, to the southwest of Teotihuacan’s ceremonial core, is presented as an archetypal Teotihuacan residential area. Artisans from La Ventilla created spectacular artworks to satisfy local and regional markets. These included iconic ceramic tripod vessels and elaborate incense burners—or incensarios. More incensarios have been found at La Ventilla than anywhere else in the city. They were often decorated with mass-produced, mold-made clay decorations that were applied to their surfaces. 

The Feathered Serpent Pyramid and the surrounding Ciudadela are next explored. Though smaller in comparison to the Sun and Moon Pyramids, the Feathered Serpent Pyramid was covered in elaborate, monumental carvings of undulating serpents. At the time of its construction, around 250 CE, a series of large-scale sacrificial offerings were made, including the burial of more than 200 individuals. Many of the victims wore necklaces of shell carved to look like human teeth—a few included actual human jawbones – and were discovered in positions that imply they were tied and bound at the time of death. These sacrifices suggest an era of significant military might at Teotihuacan.  

The Sun Pyramid is Teotihuacan’s largest structure and one of the largest ever built in the ancient world. It rises about 206 feet high and was built in one single, massive construction effort around 200 CE. Recent excavations have uncovered offerings of greenstone objects and evidence for programs of exterior sculpture depicting motifs related to fire and jaguars. Large pieces have also been discovered at the pyramid’s summit, including a statue of the Old Fire God—a deity with deep roots in central Mexico; early Teotihuacan leaders sought to bind the different ethnic groups inhabiting the city together by creating a single, modified version of the Old Fire God. 

After its monumental architecture, Teotihuacan is perhaps best known for its complex fresco murals, which decorated the city’s apartments and administrative centers. Stunning murals from high-status compounds in the Techinantitla section just east of the Moon Pyramid are on view in the next gallery, featuring exceptional mural fragments from FAMSF’s collection reunited with others from the same compound.  

The Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan’s second-largest structure, at a height of approximately 141 feet, is explored next. Excavations there have revealed a seven-phase construction sequence beginning sometime between 50 and 150 CE, with the monument achieving its largest size between 300 and 400 CE. During the fourth phase of construction, the pyramid was greatly enlarged, indicating a period of increasing wealth and political centralization. The completion of the construction was marked by a dedication event that involved the sacrifice of many humans and predatory animals. The sacrificial offering also included objects made of exceptionally precious materials such as greenstone, obsidian, slate, and pyrite. Many of these offerings, which were carefully arranged, seem to have connections to rituals relating to the origin of the cosmos. 

The exhibition concludes at the compound of Xalla, located to the east of the Moon Pyramid plaza and just north of the Sun Pyramid. The compound was likely a site for the city’s powerful ruling elite, indicated by its architectural complexity and the large quantity of ornamental sculpture found there. Many objects from Xalla bear evidence of a violently destructive event that marked the beginning of Teotihuacan’s collapse. At around 550 CE, the ceremonial center of the city was burned; ritual objects, such as the large marble sculpture shown in the final gallery, were intentionally smashed and scattered. After the great fire, the systems of urban and religious maintenance that had been successful for more than 400 years fell apart. Much of the population left the city, and Teotihuacan’s regional dominance ended. But the site itself was never forgotten, and its legacy lives on as a powerful model of ancient Mesoamerican urbanism.

Eccentric, 200-250. Obsidian. Photograph by Jorge Pérez de Lara Elías, © INAH. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Detail of two standing anthropomorphic sculptures discovered near the terminus of the tunnel beneath the Ciudadela and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. Photograph by Sergio Gómez Chávez, Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

View of an area immediately east of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, looking south. The fragments seen here tumbled down from the eastern facade of the building; some may have been deliberately thrown down in an attempt to desacralize the pyramid. Photograph by Jorge Pérez de Lara Elías, © INAH, Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

View of the facade of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, assembled as a mosaic of large and small sculptures. The head of the Feathered Serpent juts out from the tablero. Its body wraps around the building and carries a headdress thought to represent a primordial crocodile, or the so-called War Serpent. The shells surrounding the Feathered Serpent emphasize that the building represents a watery location, like a mountain rising from the sea. Photograph by Jorge Pérez de Lara Elías, © INAH, Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Mexico. Archaeological Site To Teotihuacan. Hermes Images/AGF/UIG via Getty Images.

View of the Sun Pyramid looking east. At 63 meters tall, the Sun Pyramid was one of the largest and tallest structures in the Western Hemisphere until the development of the skyscraper in the nineteenth century. Photograph by Jorge Pérez de Lara Elías, © INAH, Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Mexico, Anahuac, Teotihuacan, Smaller pyramids in the foreground of Pyramid del Sol. Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images.

Mexico, Anahuac, Teotihuacan, Moon Pyramid. Eye Ubiquitous/UIG via Getty Images.

Lot 93. A Ding carved ‘Lotus’ dish, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), 5 in. (12.7 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 120,000 (USD 10,289 - USD 15,434) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong

Lot 94. A Xing foliate-rim dish, Five Dynasties (907-960), 6 5/8 in. (17 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 50,000 - HKD 70,000 (USD 6,431 - USD 9,003) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired in the 1990s

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong

Lot 95. A rare Cizhou carved 'lotus' basin, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234), 12 1/2 in. (30.8 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 200,000 - HKD 300,000 (USD 25,723 - USD 38,584) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Provenance: Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 2234

Note: This basin belongs to a distinctive group of Cizhou wares with carved decoration on the interior incised through the white slip and with dark slip covering the exterior. Most of the examples from this group appear to be large bowls carved with a central bloom on the interior, and basins appear to be a much rarer form. Compare to three large bowls from this group in institutions worldwide, one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, pls. 60 and 60a; one in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia, accession no. 205.2006; and another one from the Dr. Yokogawa Tamisuke Collection, illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Tokyo National Museum, Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 1965, p. 72, no. 298.

Cizhou ware bowl, China, Song dynasty (960-1127), stoneware with well drawn incised decoration; external chocolate brown glaze, 6.8 x 17.7 cm. Gift of Dr John Yu and Dr George Soutter 2006, 205.2006 ©  Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia.

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong 

Lot 96. A white-rimmed black-glazed ‘Basket weave’ bowl, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234), 4 1/2 in. (11.5 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 60,000 - HKD 80,000 (USD 7,717 - USD 10,289) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

 Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong 

Lot 97. A Jian 'Hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), 5 in. (12.5 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 40,000 - HKD 60,000 (USD 5,145 - USD 7,717) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Property from the Dexinshuwu Collection.

 Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong 

Lot 98. A rare marbled dish, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234), 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) diam., box. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 150,000 (USD 10,289 - USD 19,292) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong 

Lot 99. A Jun dish, Jin-Yuan dynasty (1115-1368), 7 1/2 in. (19 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 180,000 - HKD 220,000 (USD 23,150 - USD 28,295) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong

Lot 100. A small Jun censer, Yuan-Ming dynasty (1279-1644), 2 ¾ in. (7 cm.) wide, Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 120,000 (USD 10,289 - USD 15,434) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017.

Provenance: Shogado, Japan

Christie's. The Pavilion Sale Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 2 October 2017, Alexandra House, Hong Kong

Lot 2088. A superb Burmese 'pigeon blood' ruby and diamond bracelet. Estimate HKD 3,000,000 - 5,000,000 (USD 384,000 - 640,000) © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

Designed as two rows of twenty-six graduated oval- and cushion-shaped rubies weighing altogether 26.77 carats, interspersed with twenty-six pear-shaped diamonds, altogether weighing 14.6 carats, all D color, internally flawless to VVS2 clarity, mounted in 18K gold, approximately 17.0 cm long.

Accompanied by report no. 14116034 / 1 to 26 dated 4 December 2014 from the Gübelin stating that the twenty-six rubies weighing 26.77 carats altogether are of Burma (Myanmar) origin, with no indications of heating, and the color of the majority of the rubies in this bracelet may also be called 'Pigeon Blood Red' in the trade Accompanied by report no. 81615 dated 24 August 2015 from the SSEF stating that the twenty-six rubies weighing approximately 27 carats altogether are of Burma (Myanmar) origin, with no indications of heating, and the color of part of these rubies may also be called 'Pigeon Blood Red' in the trade Also accompanied by an Appendix letter to test report no. 81615 titled ‘Exceptional Ruby Bracelet’ Also accompanied by 26 GIA certificates.

It is with no doubt that when the three words, ‘Burma’, ‘Mogok’ and ‘Pigeon Blood Red’ come together for describing a ruby, the stone in hand is one of the rarest and the most magnificent on earth.

The name “ruby” comes from “ruber”, Latin for red. Over hundreds of years and across cultures, ranking the second on the Mohs scale of harness, just below diamonds, ruby has become a symbolism for passion, lust, and power. It has been recognized globally that Mogok of Burma (Myanmar) produces the best quality rubies in the world, with over thousands of years of history, and continues to maintain its place in the world market. 

The most significant factor in determining a ruby’s value is its color. The best color is that of a pure hue combined with strong saturation. The color must be without significant brown, orange or purple hues, and be neither too dark nor to light. Burmese ruby’s chemical composition typically contains chromium; this causes the fiery red color to be further enhanced by a red fluorescence under UV rays - sunlight and most lighting conditions. Every gemstone has its unique internal environment. It is its own testimony to the secrets deep down under the Earth. Inclusions are expected to exist in rubies, such as needles and small crystals. Some inclusions can make a positive contribution to ruby’s appearance. The typical inclusion of Burmese rubies, rutile silk, can cause light to scatter across the body of the gem, thus creating a more vivid color and a distinctive texture. 

‘Pigeon Blood Red’ is a term used in the trade and accepted by gemological laboratories as the most striking and arresting color of a ruby. It is sensual, ardent, influential and majestic, reminiscent of the burning fire and the flowing blood. A 'Pigeon Blood Red' ruby can command the highest price of any colored stones, at the same time providing a safe long-term investment. The common and historical practice in the ruby market is to heat treat the rough so its color and clarity improves. Natural rubies over five carats that have not been heated are extremely rare and precious.